In mines there are employed various mining vehicles, such as rock drilling rigs, loading machines and transport machines. Mining vehicles may be manned or unmanned. Unmanned mining vehicles may be remote controlled, for instance, from a control room and they may be provided with measuring devices suitable for positioning. Unmanned mining vehicles may be guided in a mine along a desired route provided that the location of the apparatus can be determined. The location of the apparatus may be determined by laser scanners, for instance.
WO 2007/012198 discloses a method for automatic navigation of a mining vehicle. An operator teaches the mining vehicle, either by manually driving or through tele-operation, a route along which the mining vehicle may move without the operator's intervention.
A pre-taught reference model, which is used as a basis for route determination, is required on the tunnels in the operating area of the mining vehicle. This reference model may be called an environment model. The environment model is typically taught by driving the mining vehicle through the required tunnels in the operating area. The environment model of the operating area having been taught, bound to the coordinate system of the operating area and stored in a data system, the mining vehicle is driven, to teach a specific route needed for a driving task, along said route. The navigation system determines the position of the mining vehicle and locations of route points on the traveled route may be determined in relation to the environment model.